New York Times editorial, Hiding Bad Policy in a Budget Bill. Mentions other bad things in the budget bill (besides the repeal of the push-out and the campaign finance atrocity), including budget cuts at the EPA and the IRS.

Speaking of “offending” the cops, here’s The New York Times‘ fail on this topic: New Twist in Lynch’s Confirmation After New York Grand Jury Decision, about how the confirmation hearings for nominee to replace Eric Holder will supposedly be complicated by the fact that she’s heading up the civil rights investigation of Eric Garner’s choking death. The Times tells us: “One Democratic official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is involved in advancing the nomination, said Ms. Lynch would have to carefully navigate community demands for action, in New York and Missouri, and the sensibilities of the law enforcement officers she would represent if confirmed to lead the Justice Department.” Come again? I guess maybe there’s some sense in which the Attorney General, the chief law enforcement official of the United States, “represents” law enforcement officers (though it makes more sense to think of her as their (future) boss); in the context of allegations of illegal police conduct (murder), this is a pretty outrageous framing. (I’ll pass over the usual outrage of the Times‘ use of anonymous sources (usually leakers trying to use the Times reporter to shape the story).

The Yves Smith piece, and various recent Bill Black pieces criticizing Dealbook and Andrew Ross Sorkin’s shameless coziness with his Wall Street funders and sources inspired me to check in to see whether the Times‘ Public Editor has had anything critical to say about Sorkin. I found that the current Public Editor, Margaret Sullivan, seems to be easy on Sorkin (she brought up criticisms people have had of his coziness with sources here, but instead of actually investigating and assessing the charges, she just gets a quote from Sorkin: “The criticism of him as an insider is, Mr. Sorkin says, ‘an old meme,’ and simply untrue.” Her predecessor, Arthur Brisbane, seems to have been harder on Sorkin, e.g., here.